Graded prefrontal-sensory connectivity underlies cross-modal hierarchical control

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Science
• Psychology

Background:

• The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is crucial for cognitive control.
• Prior research suggests a rostro-caudal organization within the PFC for hierarchical processing, primarily in unimodal contexts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if the rostro-caudal architecture of the PFC supports hierarchical control across different sensory modalities (auditory and visual).
• To examine how increasing abstraction and complexity in cross-modal tasks affect PFC activation and functional connectivity.

Main Methods:

• Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used while participants completed cue-based tasks integrating auditory and visual information.
• Behavioral data (accuracy, reaction time) were collected.
• Univariate and multivoxel pattern analyses (MVPA) were performed on fMRI data.
• Functional connectivity analyses examined interactions between PFC subregions and sensory cortices.

Main Results:

• Behavioral costs in accuracy and reaction time increased with task abstraction and complexity.
• Univariate analyses showed an anterior shift in PFC activation along the rostro-caudal axis with increasing abstraction.
• MVPA revealed that caudal PFC encoded concrete responses, while rostral PFC represented abstract dimensions.
• Functional connectivity demonstrated caudal PFC coupling with sensory cortices for lower-level control, and rostral PFC coupling with association areas for higher-level abstraction.

Conclusions:

• The rostro-caudal gradient in the PFC generalizes to hierarchical control across sensory modalities.
• This hierarchical architecture dynamically reconfigures prefrontal-sensory interactions to manage multisensory demands.
• The findings provide a neural basis for adaptive cognition in complex, multisensory environments.